Another interesting Native Plant Workshop!
Photo by : Max Licher
The weather was a little cool and breezy but over 130 registered participants came to listen and learn. Comments ranged from excellent, well organized, very interesting, to great topics/presentations. Joanne Kendrick, President of Keep Sedona Beautiful, briefly explained some of the projects and programs that KSB supports. We then awarded the 11th Norman B. Herkenham Award to Sue Smith, a past presenter here at the Native Plant Workshop as well as at the KSB Speaker Series. This award is given to people, businesses, or organizations that further the education and implementation of native plant landscaping.
After retiring from a career in computer science, Sue Smith pursued her lifelong passion for plants. She is a member of the California and Arizona Native Plant Societies. She volunteers at the Highlands Center for Natural History, for the Grand Canyon Trust, and for the Plant Atlas Project of Arizona. Currently, her energies are focused on earning her Masters in Natural Resource Management at Utah State University. Sue’s home utilizes rainwater harvesting and demonstrates xeriscape principles through the use of native plants to create a beautiful and sustainable landscape.
Sue is also a Yavapai County Master Gardener. For ten years, she has tirelessly volunteered in the development of the University of Arizona’s Yavapai County Native and Naturalized Plant website. She is a valued and respected mentor to her fellow Master Gardeners as well as being instrumental in providing a valuable tool for the public to use to learn about the Native Plants they encounter. Sue is always learning and encouraging others to see the natural world around them in a new light. She has the ability to explain plants at a layman’s level and also at a scientific level.
Ursula Schuch
In addition to her personal plaque, her name also goes on the larger plaque with the names of all the Herkenham award recipients. This plaque is always on display at the Pushmataha Center.
Our first keynote speaker Ursula Schuch came to us from Tucson where she is the Extension Specialist and Professor in the School of Plant Sciences and teaches Plant Propagation, Production and Management. She also has statewide responsibility in environmental horticulture. She presents seminars and workshops for professionals in the green industry, and conducts research to address relevant issues in horticulture production practices and landscape management. She spoke to us on Going Native — A Whole System Approach. Doing studies with different amounts of water, the conclusion is that altho it depends on the plant, we don’t need to water as much as we think.
After breaking out for our hour-long workshops covering pollinators, compost and mulch, water wise landscaping, wild natives as well as decorative natives or going on a walkabout, we gathered back in the cafeteria for lunch with sandwiches and cookies compliments of Wildflower Bread Company and apples courtesy of Weber’s IGA.
Bill McDorman
We followed this with our second keynote, international speaker and author Bill McDorman who tackled What is Native? What is Invasive? Bill and his wife reside right here in Cornville during the winters and find themselves in the beautiful Rocky Mountains spreading the seed gospel during the summers, where Bill is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance in Ketchum, Idaho, a seed conservation organization he co-founded in 2014. Bill got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college when he helped start Garden City Seeds in Missoula, Montana. He founded Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully from 1984 to 2012 when sold to an intern. In 2010, he and his wife Belle Starr created Seed School, a nationally recognized weeklong training that has graduated over 800 students from around the world. He and his wife also served as Co-Directors of Native Seeds.
After another hour-long session with all six workshops being repeated, our workshop was concluded. The winning bidders of the silent auction collected their prizes from gift certificates to plants to handcrafted items. Again, a big thank you to all our donors, many companies that can support your landscape needs: Arizona Botanical Gardens, Arterra, Bee in the Garden, Hummingbird Society, Jay’s Bird Barn, Mortimer Nursery, Prescott Valley Nursery, ProBuild, Sedona Ace Hardware, Verde River Growers, Village Ace Hardware & Supply, Villegas Landscape and Viola’s Flower Garden.
A great big thank you to the committee for their efforts in bringing you this “well coordinated” event. An additional thank you goes out to Craig Swanson for the slide show.
KSB 2017 NPW Committee
Back row: Mary Overman, Gail Heyer, Georgia Munsell, Bill Preeg
Front row: Gerry Snyder, Rich Spinelli, Nancy Spinelli (Chair), Michelle Snyder
Not present were Lisa Preeg and Sarah Rowley
Additional support from Linda Fortner, David & Susan Murrill, Garry Neil and Craig Swanson.
Keynote Speakers:
Ursula K. Schuch: Going Native — A Whole System Approach
Bill McDorman: What is Native? What is Invasive?
Workshop Presenters:
- Janie B. Agyagos: Pollinators – not just butterflies and bees!
- Allen Cornell: Native Plants of the Verde Valley and How They Were Used (Rain or Shine, maximum of 15 per session)
- Lindsey Curé: Decorative Native Plants
- Chris Jensen: Water Wise Landscaping
- Feather Jones: Discover the Wild Natives: Slide Show of High Desert Edible & Medicinal Plants
- Jeff W. Schalau: Compost vs. Mulch: What’s the Difference?
Advance tickets were $25 for KSB members and $35 for the general public. Tickets purchased at the event were $35 for KSB members and $45 for the general public. Included in that price were the two keynote speakers, a choice of two hour-long workshops of the six offered, breakfast savories donated by Weber’s IGA, coffee, tea, water supplied by Kinetico, chips donated by Gerry and Michelle Snyder and lunch of sandwiches and cookies donated by Wildflower Bread Company.
There was also a Silent Auction with 44 items donated by the community which included gift certificates, plants, landscape consultations, framed photos, and handcrafted items, including a beautiful alligator juniper side table crafted by two of our members.
Attendees were encouraged to bring their own mugs and/or water bottles to help make this a “zero-waste event”. Sedona Recycles and Paw Prints Thrift Shop loaned us ceramic mugs to eliminate the use of paper coffee cups which are not recyclable. Sedona Recycles also brought their bins to help recycle or compost our waste and guided the participants to use them correctly.
Jay’s Bird Barn and Verde River Growers, both certified by the Sustainability Alliance AZ at the Bronze/Conservationist level, were available to share their expertise and have merchandise for sale along with the Verde Valley School selling their seeds and explaining their program.
Please support all the merchants as well as our business sponsors for their support.
Keep Sedona Beautiful, Inc., acting through the stewardship of its members and volunteers,
is committed to protect and sustain the unique scenic beauty and natural environment
of the Greater Sedona Area.